1877.] 
AMERICAN AG-RICULTURIST. 
63 
holes in the corolla of a heath. Jlr. Danrin re- 
cords the folloivine observation, made twenty years 
ago, and published at the time in the "Gardeners' 
Chronicle." "I was led to observe, durins some 
weeks, several rows of the scarlet Badney-bean, 
whilst attending to the fertilization of this plant, 
and daily saw humble and hive-bees sucking at the 
mouths of the flowers. But one day I found sev- 
eral humble-bees employed in euttmg holes in flow- 
er after flower ; and on the nest day every smgle 
hive-bee, without exception, instead of alighting 
on the left wing-petal, and sucking the flower in 
the proper manner, flew straight and witbont the 
least hesitation, to the calyx, and sucked through 
the holes which had been made only the day before 
by the humble-bees ; and they continued this habit 
for many following days. — Now how did the hive- 
bees find out so quickly that holes had been made ? 
Instinct seems to be out of the question, as the 
plant is an exotic. The holes cannot be seen by 
bees whilst standing on the wing-petals, Where they 
had always previously alighted. From the ease 
with which bees were deceived when the petals of 
Lobelia Erinus were cut off, it was clear that in this 
case they were not guided to the nectar by its 
smell, and it may be doubted whether they were 
attracted to the holes in the flowers of the Phaseo- 
lus by the odor omitted from them. Did they per- 
ceive them by the sense of touch in their probos- 
cides, whilst sucking the flowers in the proper man- 
ner, and then reason that it would save them time to 
alight on the outside of the flowers and use the 
holes ? This seems almost too abstruse an act of 
reason for bees ; and it is more probable that they 
saw the humble-bees at work, and understanding 
what they were about, imitated them, and took ad- 
vantage of the shorter path to the nectar." 
Why do bees gnaw holes when they might get the 
nectar in the regular way ? — No doubt to save the 
time of climbing in or out of the larger flowers, or 
of crowding their heads or tongues into narrow 
passages in small ones. From observation of in- 
sects working either way in certain flowers, Mr. 
Darwin judged that they could visit nearly twice as 
many in the same when they sucked through the per- 
forations. But then much time must be lost in mak- 
ing the holes, especially when they are cut through 
both calyx and corolla. So the boring would hard- 
ly pay except where flowers grow in great numbers 
of the same sort together. And Darwin says he 
was long ago struck with the fact that it is only un- 
der such circumstances that humble-bees psriorate 
flowers. If this is so, no species is liksly to run 
out for want of crossing through this injurious 
habit of bees. For as long as the flowers are very 
plenty, a sufficient number will get cross-fertUized; 
and whenever they become .'.tarcer, the bees, no 
longer stimulated by the abundance to work in the 
surreptitious wholesale way, will enter the flower 
In the legitimate manner. 
Does any one know of an instance of the perfo- 
ration of any fugacious flower, any which lasts only 
one day? If no such case occurs, it wiU confirm 
the suggestion that the perforations are made to 
save time, and scow all the more what keen and 
sensible observers bees are. 
{/heap Greenhouses— How to Heat them. 
BT PETER HENDERSON. 
In the American AffriciiltHrist for November, 1874, 
I described and gave a diagram of a method of 
heating a greenhouse, 20 feet wide by 100 feet long, 
by the ordinary smoke-flue and wilii only one fire. 
Heretofore it had been generally believed tnat it 
was impossible to heat a structure of that size with 
but one furnace, and few ever risked a hous_ more 
than one-third of the size with a single fire. The 
principle there described, although n.ot a new one 
(as I afterwards ascertained , ay U had been record- 
ed in the transtictions of the London Horticultural 
Society some .50 years before'), had certi>inly never 
been generally practised, and its publication in tlie 
American Arjriculturist has created a ereat deal of 
interest, and has involved me in an extensive cor- 
respondence. In that article I unfortunately show- 
ed only its application to that particular atructure. 
which was too large and too expensive for the 
wants of most beginners in floriculture, I have re- 
ceived numerous letters inquiring about the appli- 
cation of this principle to smaller and diflerently 
shaped houses. Finding it well nigh impossible to 
-- —60'— 
*— 12.'— H 
F.R. 
B 
B 
the furnace, but at the same time it ensures a com- 
plete draft, so that the heated air from the furnace 
is so rapidly carried through the entire length of 
the flue, so that it is nearly as hot when it enters 
the chimney as when it left the furnace. This per- 
fect draft also does away 
with all danger of the 
escape of gas from the 
flues into the greenhouse, 
which often happens 
-S : 
t// B 
JBI 
V,-/ 
w 
Fig. 1. — PI.AX OF THREE HOUSES coiiBLNED. — Length, 60 ft. ; width 33 ft. 
F, S, Furnace Room, 13xa3 ft. ; B, B, Benches, 4« ft. icide ; IT. IF. Walks. 1ft. wide 
S. 5, Smoke-ftite for heating ; F^ C, Furnace, with tfldmuey built on top of it. 
satisfactorily reply to these queries by letter, I 
wUI show in this article how other houses of differ- 
ent designs and of smaller dimensions maybe heat- 
ed on the same principle. Figure 1 shows -three of 
the usual ridge and furrow houses, which are 60 
feet long and 11 feet wide, each with a furnace 
room, or shed, at one end, which is 13 x S3 feet. 
when the draft is not ac- 
tive. Although no system 
of heating by smoke-flues 
is so satisfactory as by hot 
water, yet there are hun- 
dreds who have neither 
the means, nor inclination 
to go to the greater ex- 
pense of hot water heat- 
ing, and to such this re- 
vived method is one that 
wUl, to a great extent, 
simplify and cheapen the 
Many old estabhshed 
-.60- 
F. P 
w 
CFf- 
.g..-.-..- 
S- 
Fig. 2. — PLiS OP A SINGLE HOUSE — 60 X 20 ft. 
F. J!. Furnace Room, 12x20/7. ,• B, B, Side Benches. 4 ft. wide ; C, C. Center Bench, 5 ft. 
wide ; TV. TV. Walks, if I. wide ; S, S, Smoke-flue ; C, F, Furnace with. Cliimney above. 
erection of greenhouses. 
florists, who have had the old plan of flues in use, 
have changed them to the one here described, and 
with great satisfaction. The wonder is that such 
an important fact has been so long overlooked, for 
when at the time it was discovered, heating green- 
houses by flues was almost the only method in use. 
As some may desire 
to know the cost of 
structures like those 
above described, I 
would say that, at 
present prices in the 
vicioity of New York, 
the plan of figure 1 
would cost, complete, 
about S8 per running 
foot, or abcut -?600 
for the whole build- 
ing, ?2 X 33. The 
house shown in figure 
Of course the length may be increased or diminish- 
ed as desired, but this width is found to be the 
most convenient. It will be seen that the three 
greenhouses are heated by tuio furnaces, the ilne 
being so disposed under the center benches of the 
houses as not to cross any of the pathways. This 
gives, of course, two runs of the flue to the middle 
house, and only one run each to the outside houses. 
This would in coldest weather give a temperature 
of not less than 40° to the outside houses, and 60° 
or 65° to the middle house, which has the two runs 
of flues. This difference in temperature is indis- 
pensable in a general collection of plants, and the 
neglect of it is more than anj-thlng else the cause 
of failure where growers have but one greenhouse. 
It will be necessary to have the flues built as close 
to the walks as possible, so that the heat be evenly 
distributed in th3 two outside houses. Figure 2 
shows a greenhouse 20 feet wide by 60 feet lacij, 
with furnace room, or shed, 12x20 feet. Here 
again the flues are so disposed as to avoid crossing 
the walks, being placed nnder the center bench, 
but as near .as possible to the walk on each side, so 
that the heat may be evenly ditTused throughout. 
If a difTerence in temperature is required in a house 
of this kind, it may bo obtained by running a glass 
partition across the house, say at 25 feet from the 
furnace end, which will, of course, m.ikc that end 
the hottest. It will be seen that the principle set 
forth in my article of November, 1ST4, is carried 
out in both these plans, and it would be unsafe to 
attempt to heat greenhouses of these dimensions 
mthout conforming to it. Its peculiarity consists 
111 running the flue, in each case, bacU io the 
furnace from which it starts and into ths chimney, 
whiel.' is built on the top of the furnace. As soon 
as a fire Is lighted in the f\imace. r.be brick-work 
fonnliig the arch gets heated, and at once starts an 
upward draft, which puts the smoke-flue into im- 
mediate action and maintains it : hence there is 
never any trouble about the draft as in ordinary 
hues having the chimney at the most distant point 
from the funiace. It will he seen that by this plan 
we not only get rid of the violent heat given out by 
3 would cost about §7 per running foot, or about 
S.:00 for the 73 x 20. This price is only for plain 
substantial work, such as is put up by commercial 
florists. The side and end walls being made of wood 
in tu? usual way, with cedar or chestnut posts, 
(locust is more durable than either.) and double 
boardei with a layer of tarred pepfi" between. 
MKDOilElKDLID). 
For otTiei' Household Items see " Basket " pages. 
idi 
Home Topics. 
UT FAITH KOCHTSTER. 
Early Edacatioil. 
I have just gathered a little bundle of reading 
matter to lend to a friend in another town ; and, as 
she may be supposed to be especially interested in 
all that bears upon the subject of babies, I have 
placed side by side two books, neither of them 
new, which may serve well to complement each 
other— " Ginx's Baby" and "The Child." The 
former, a good satire, and treating of politico-social 
economy, cannot fail to deepen in the mind of a 
thoughtful reader a sense of the danger of neglect- 
ing the early education of future citizens. Though 
one cannot help smiling at the fine touches of the 
si'tlrist, one is moved at the same time with horror 
and compassion over the condition of the lower 
strata of humanity. Perhaps London is worse than 
any American city, but we all need to be stirred to 
the depths of onr hearts over the ignorance and 
miserv and consequent wickedness of millions of 
our fellow creatures. If we turn from the strange 
fortunes of that typical character, " Ginx's Baby," 
to Madam Kriegc's book. '-The Child," we can 
see. at least by faith, what may be the destiny of 
the human nice on earth, in future ages ; for surely 
we shall at last Icam— if not in your day and mine, 
in some generation not far distant— the necessity 
of giving human beings a careful education in 
